Updated 6:30 am, Friday, June 26, 2015

On June 1, 2012, Santana pitched his way into history at New York’s Citi Field when he hurled a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals. He became the first pitcher in the 50-year history of the Mets to record such a feat.

Even so, there was controversy connected with the victory. It came in two forms.

First, there was the ground ball that Carlos Beltran hit past third baseman David Wright that was called foul by third base umpire Adrian Johnson in the sixth inning. Had replay been in use then, Johnson’s call would have been overturned, because the ball was clearly fair after it crossed the bag.

Second, Santana, who had won the Cy Young Award while pitching for the Minnesota Twins before his trade to the Mets in 2008, was coming off shoulder surgery in 2010. Collins, the Mets’ manager, allowed him to throw 134 pitches to complete the no-hitter.

Since that night, Santana has never been the same pitcher. Now he is in the Toronto Blue Jays’ system trying to work his way back to the majors.

In a recent Sports Illustrated article by Phil Taylor, both Collins and Santana look back on the game.

Collins said, “It was the worst night I’ve ever spent in baseball,” referring to the fact that he let Santana go past the conventional 100 pitches on his way to the no-hitter.

While second-guessing himself, Collins, who first met Santana while serving as the Mets’ minor league field coordinator in 2010, is glad Santana had such a great night.

He told Taylor, “People still come up to me at banquets, on the street, wherever, and tell me they’re glad I let him finish it. I’m glad they’re glad. For me, the one thing it did is that one of the great competitive players I’ve ever been around got to have a great moment, and I was happy for him.”

Santana admires Collins and refuses to blame him for anything that happened that June night at Citi Field.

Writes Taylor, “Tell Terry he’s a great manager and everything is fine. I’m fine. There’s nothing for anybody to be sorry about. What happened, happened.”

To read the full account of Taylor’s story, see the June 15 edition of Sports Illustrated.